This invention relates to a conveyor belt connector and method having connecting elements which are disposed in a row and which are fastened to the conveyor belt ends, wherein the connecting elements are attached to the belt ends by means of fastening elements which pass through the connecting elements and through the conveyor belt, and having a tension relieving means or reinforcement which is attached to the conveyor belt in the region of a conveyor belt end by means of one or more connecting elements, wherein the tension means extends in the direction of conveying of the conveyor belt and the tension means is attached to the conveyor belt by means of additional fastening elements at a distance from the respective connecting element which attaches the tension means to the conveyor belt end.
It is known in principle from DE 42 35 759 A1 that the belt ends of conveyor belts and/or of conveyor belt parts can be connected by means of connecting elements which can be fastened to the belt ends. The connecting elements themselves are fastened to the strap ends by means of fastening elements in the form of screws, rivets or staples, for example. When U-shaped connecting elements are used, they are disposed so that their loops are situated in a meshing position at the belt ends. A coupling rod can then be inserted through the loops to make the connection. When connecting elements in the form of bridges are used, they bridge the joint location at the belt ends and are each fastened to the two belt ends.
A conveyor belt connector of the type cited at the outset is known from GB-A-1 102 993, in which, in order to increase the loading capacity of the conveyor belt connection, tension means are used in addition which are disposed in the direction of conveying, which are effective over the entire width of the conveyor belt, and which are fabricated from wires. The wires are attached to, and in particular are press-bonded to, the connecting elements and to a receiver plate which is disposed at a distance therefrom, wherein the connecting elements and the receiver plates are attached to the conveyor belt by means of fastening elements and by means of additional fastening elements. In this design, the thickness of the conveyor belt is not reduced in the end regions thereof. The connecting elements, the tension means and the receiver plates rest on both the top and bottom faces of the conveyor belt, so that the conveyor belt connector is subjected to considerable wear on both sides when the conveyor belt is in operation. The material which is conveyed by means of the conveyor belt comes into direct contact not only with the connecting elements but also with the tension means and the receiver plates. Since the thickness of the conveyor belt connector is greater than that of the conveyor belt, hard impacts always occur when the conveyor belt connector comes into contact with the driving or deflection drums of the conveyor belt, whereby considerable forces are transmitted into the conveyor belt connector. The increased wear on the conveyor belt connectors is particularly disadvantageous in the two edge zones of the conveyor belt, in which the connecting elements are subjected to higher stresses than are the connecting elements which are disposed further inward.
An edge protection device for a flexible belt formed from folding hooks is known from DE-PS 608 511. In this device, the limbs of a hinge of U-shaped cross section overlap the ends of the row of folding hooks on the top and bottom faces of the belt, and the bridge of the hinge is let into the sides of the belt, flush with the side faces thereof. The object of this design is to prevent the folding hooks at the outer edges of the belt connectors from coming loose again and again, so that one hook after another comes out due to the unequal distribution of tensile forces over the cross section of the belt. In order to transmit the forces at the ends of the flexible belt connectors far into the belt, further hinge halves of U-shaped cross section are attached to both sides of the edge protection hinge by joints which are aligned with the bridges. A disadvantage of this edge protection system is the use of joints which are freely disposed and which are thus extremely susceptible to wear and destruction. Moreover, the tension relieving forces are not transmitted into the further hinge halves directly, i.e., in the direction of conveying of the conveyor belt, but are transmitted via the external joint, due to which both the latter and the hinge halves have to withstand shearing and bending forces.